Friday, February 22, 2013

Ever hear the term
absolute truth? It’s an attempt to paraphrase ground zero the way the big guy
upstairs would see things. As humans, well least a lot of us, have problems
dealing with reality. It’s much easier to turn away, stick our head in the
sand, hide beneath the covers so we can ignore the boogey man below the bed.
What in the world am I talking about? Okay, here’s an example all can, at
least, relate to. If we examine the facts and look at the numbers, does anyone
truly believe as an aggregate we can bring 1.6 trillion in per year as a nation,
spend over 3.2 trillion and survive as a viable thriving economy entity? We’ve
been doing this “temporary” deficit consumption of the next generation for
decades, and yet it continues with no attempt to abate the loaming cliff. Actually,
saw a politician other day who announced there is no problem with spending more
than we take in, we’ll just keep stealing the future (fortunately no one can
reach through a TV screen).

What’s this have to
do with writing? Well, most wantabees struggling to break through the writer barrier,
and the newbies just stepping through the door, have preconceived notions of
what being “published” really means. For this post, we’ll focus on the subset
of authors associated with a publishing company vs self publication. Why?
Although they share certain myths, I think in most cases writers start out
wanting to be picked up by a publishing entity instead of going out on their
own. The point of this post is to share various myths about the mysterious
world of being “published.” I know from personal experiences when I got the
“call” for my first novel seven years ago, I was clueless about this strange
and wacky rabbit hole I ventured into.

Where do these
observations I’m about to share come from? Three sources:

(1)Data I’ve collected since 2008 on promotion
experiments correlated to the resulting site hits/royalties.

(2)Ground truth (show me yours and I’ll show
you mine) sessions with dozens of other authors.

(3)Reviewing posts on three key writer forums
where they share their positive and negative experiences.

This post provides
five myths then continues next month with another five, so here we go, in no
special order:

Myth 1: Quality
is everything – Yeah, I
know, I thought that too. Write an “Ah damn” manuscript, one that can’t be put
down and they’ll beg ya for the story. My first two novels both received
multiple 5 star reviews yet it still took two years to get my foot in the door.
How’s that possible? Because until you get them to read your work, they’ll
never give ya a chance and the pre-filter reader at the publisher gets several
hundred or more submissions a week. So how do you get through that barrier?
Three words: Query, query, query letter (oh, that’s four). I spent 20 months
and received over a hundred rejections. I totally redesigned the query and in one
month received three offers. If interested, you can view two of my queries by
going to Davisstories.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Copy
right 2007” line then it’ll take you to a hidden page where the queries are
storied.

Myth 2: A few
typos don’t matter – You’d
think a story that envelopes the reader is enough. That submission reviewers
are tolerate of a few typos in your draft. No way, no how, it’s a definite
killer. Even after 16 published stories, if my script has more than one or two
typos a chapter, I receive the novel back with a strong note suggesting it’s
not ready. That’s why, in your critique group, least one member should have supreme
skills at catching typos and grammar no no’s, something I’m terrible at.

Myth 3: Once
accepted, the works done –
Every author I’ve had offline discussions with has suffered from initial belief
of this myth. Forty percent of the time associated with being an author for me
goes to promotion activities (that’s why the next myth is so so important).
Some authors have admitted to spending more, some less, but the fewer hours
allotted to promotion, the lower your sales. And if you think sales don’t
matter, promotion is all the publisher’s job, here’s a real reality check:
publishers do drop authors whose sales suck, and that’s a fact.

Myth 4: All
promotion activities help
– Really? I know that over the first year I was exposed to choice after choice
of new promo avenues as I read the forums, articles, and chats. Problem is, all
those raving as to their value were basing opinions on gut feelings. Point is,
almost any promo activity might get someone to visit your site, but there are
more things to do than you have time to commit. And the more promotion hours
spend the less you can write that next masterpiece. So what’s the key? Choosing
the right activities and ignoring the others. But how do you do that if you
don’t know which are effective and which not. Of the hundreds of articles,
forum posts, and chats I’ve seen that tout a particular promo thingy as key to their
success only two or three support those assessments with stats. Another of our
TWV authors has posted several articles on data based conclusions. I actually
wrote a three part article published in an Ezine that discussed 24 promo
avenues I actually correlated to the return on that investment by recorded
stats. If interested, again go to Davisstories.com, scroll down the left side
and clip the “So you what to write a novel” cover and it’ll take ya to a new
page. At the lower left you’ll see a series of articles I’ve written that share
data based observations of events and activities that affect sales.

Myth 5: You’re
going to be rich – Go
ahead, you can admit it. Once you got the call the dollar signs appeared in
your dreams. I have yet to talk with any fellow author bud/budette who stated,
“No, I never though writing would make me rich.” In fact, with the exception of
two, every writer I know willing to share ground truth regarding royalty data (many
will not) has been disappointed with the bottom line. I know what you’re
thinking, “Well big guy, obviously you don’t know the right authors.” Maybe,
but consider this stat easily obtained via the web. Of the one million titles
published in the USA alone each year, the average book sales only 200 copies.
Yeah, unbelievable, right? Then why keep going, locking yourself away hour
after hour in that closest slaving over that script? Point is, many don’t. Of
the sixty plus authors I’ve come to know in seven years, about 25% have stopped
writing. Then why do the other 75% keep marching forward? Some keep hoping on
the off chance a random search by a media producer will expose them to one of
your creations. Others realize they write, not for the money, rather the
whispering muse in their ear that wouldn’t stop buzzing new fictional stories.
Where do I fall? In both those categories.